UnCONventional is now over. Thank you, thank you, thank you. To everybody who attended, our guests, panel members and everybody else who helped in big ways or small. You can have no real idea just how grateful to everybody we are and hope you all had a great time.

A reminder to everybody that the New Zealand National SF/F/H awards are being presented at unCONventional. These awards are named for Sir Julius Vogel who was was a Prime Minister of New Zealand, and in 1889 wrote what was probably the first full length Science Fiction novel by a New Zealander.

The awards are being presented on Sunday evening. All full & supporting members of unCONventional are eligible to vote in the awards. Voting closes at midday on the day of the awards (Sunday). Voting forms will be available at the convention as will samples of the work of the various nominees.

Nominees and their supporters (partners, friends, publishers) who are not convention members are welcome to attend the awards ceremony. However we would appreciate it if you are planning to attend in this context to just drop us a line so we can let our security staff know.

After the opening ceremony and mixer (there will be cake), there will be the now traditional Rocky Horror Picture Show screening. And of course it will involve the usual interaction with the characters. This year there will be an extra crew of RHPS specialists there to help you shout at the screen with the characters. You might well expect there to be some costumes on display

As with previous years, there is one difference between our event and what you may have experienced in cinema run events. Because of cleaning requirements, there cannot be any throwing of hard to clean props during our screening (i.e. confetti, rice, toast, water etc). Basically, the room needs to be left clean so that the hotel doesn’t need to call in commercial cleaners and pass the (considerable) costs on to us.

“unCONventional will be accepting all high value items for sale via “silent auction”. By high value, we mean items with a reserve of at least $50. The deadline for registering auction items is 9pm Thursday 31 May. We will not be able to accept late registrations.
Please supply the following for each item registered:
– Your name
– Title and brief description of the item
– Any reserve price (minimum of $50)
– A clear photo of the item

The fine print.
1. Items for display (i.e. photo) must be handed in to the registration desk by 10am on Saturday at the very latest.

2.Please note that all care will be taken to protect the items, but unCONventional will not be responsible for any loss or damage to the items.

3. We require a clear colour picture of each item.

4. You may specify a reserve price. The item will not be sold until this price is
reached.

5. Items may not be withdrawn from the auction without the agreement of the
ConCom. unCONventional reserve the right to charge a $5 withdrawal fee.

6. Withdrawal fees will not be charged items which did not meet reserve price.

7. Payment will be available from 11am Monday.

8. unCONventional will charge a fee for each successful auction: $5, or 10% of
the winning bid, whichever is the greater.

The close-off date for registering at UnCONventional was Wednesday 30th May (9pm). We are not be able to process memberships received online or by mail after that time.

Of course you can still join at the door – we will be taking registrations at the venue from mid-afternoon on Friday 1st June. However you should be aware that the price goes up for registration at the door. Full membership will be $110 and day memberships will be $55.

We have been holding the online and posted membership prices down to the current levels up until the close off. Note however that if you have registered and haven’t yet paid by the close-off date, the “at the door” rise will apply .

A reminder to you all that our guest of honour Trudi Canavan will be running a short (2 hour) writers workshop called “That Got Your Attention”. There are only two places left on the workshop which is open to full convention members (at no extra fee). More info here.

EDIT – Sorry – full up now.

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